Violence in town centre plunges

VIOLENT crime in the town centre has dropped by almost a quarter in the past year, according to Oldham’s police chief.

Speaking at yesterday’s Licensing Committee meeting, Chief Supt Tim Forber said there were 170 incidents of violent crimes in the town centre during 2010, down 23 per cent from the previous year.

Of 1,532 incidents of violent crime across Oldham last year, 37.6 per cent were alcohol related, and 11 per cent occurred in the town centre.

Chief Supt Forber said violent crime was down across the borough and had reduced significantly in the town centre.

He said police officers were trying to provide a more intelligence-led policing in the town centre to target resources more effectively and work much more closely with premises.

He said: “For quite some time we had the stick approach, particularly in the aftermath of the Panorama programme, we had very high police presence in the town centre.

“Having lots of police officers around doesn’t make people feel safe. We’re now moving towards the carrot approach.”

Members of the Licensing Committee also discussed their annual report yesterday.

During the past year, the department carried out 147 test-purchase operations across the borough, where under-18s are sent to buy alcohol. There were 25 sales to under-18s, a sale rate of 17 per cent. The highest number of sales (seven) were in the Royton and Shaw area.

The report highlighted the fact that Oldham became the 100th town to sign up to the Best Bar None scheme, which promotes responsible venues, and many town-centre venues had introduced shatter-proof polycarbonate glasses and plastic bottles.

Annual figures showed 119 complaints about licensed premises and clubs, of which 34 were about noise.

Principle licensing officer John Garforth told committee members that a noise-hotspot analysis would be taking place over the summer.

In terms of private hire and hackney carriages, there were 2,188 licences issued last year, 90 fewer than the year before.

Complaints

There were 141 complaints related to licensed drivers, operators and vehicles, with the highest number (47) about driver behaviour and attitude.

Five drivers were given six penalty points and fines of between £40 to £825 for plying for hire an/or no insurance

Eleven new applicants were issued cautions for failing to declare convictions.

All of Oldham’s 53 private-hire operators received either a satisfactory, good or excellent rating for the council’s star rating scheme.